Detroit defensive back Glover Quin sounds like he’s a little thrown when it comes to playing in Foxboro. (Leon Halip/Getty Images)

When it comes to playing at Gillette Stadium, Detroit defensive back Glover Quin said it’s tough for road teams to get thrown by the occasionally rural environment of Southeastern Massachusetts.

“Foxboro’s a weird place,” Quin told the Detroit Free-Press this week. “You go up there and you’re in a hotel and then you got to drive through like back woods to get there and then all of a sudden a stadium appears like it seems like in people’s backyard and it’s like, just a weird place out there. And they love it. They play great there. I’ve never won there. I’ve played there three or four times, I’ve never won there. It’s tough to win there.

“I just know you’re going through like the back woods, and you’re just like, ‘Oh my God, what am I going to?’ And then all of a sudden it’s like you see like a little trailer park or something like that, and then all of a sudden you see the stadium, you’re like ‘Whoa, right in the backyard?'” Quin added. “It’s weird out there. It’s weird out there, I can’t even lie.”

Quin said a big reason why the Patriots have done so well at home is because of a smart fan base that knows when to make noise and when it be quiet.

“That the crowd is so silent on offense and Tom Brady is able to really control the offense as opposed to having to signal a lot,” Quin said. “Look at a TV copy of a home game from New England and just listen, you can hear everything that he’s saying.”

‘¢ Dashon Goldson got a five-year, $41.25 million deal from Tampa Bay, a contract that includes $22 million guaranteed. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder has spent the last six seasons with the Niners, and has come away with nine picks over the last two years.

‘¢ Glover Quin has agreed to a new five-year deal with the Lions. The 27-year-old, a 6-foot, 207-pounder out of New Mexico, has spent the last four years with the Texans, and has gained a rep and a durable and hard-hitting presence on the back line.

FOXBORO — Wes Welker isn’t about to be intimidated – on Sunday’s stage or any stage for that matter.

Goodness knows, people have tried.

There was the Ryan Clark hit in the Steelers game at Gillette in 2008. There have been numerous attempts by the Jets and Dolphins over the last five seasons. There was a big hit delivered by Texans safety Glover Quin in the second quarter of last week’s game at Gillette Stadium.

Still, no one has succeeded in keeping Welker from standing up to punishment and running routes over the middle. He even has a shiner this week thanks to the punishment from last week’s game.

But ask Welker if anyone intimidates him, and he laughs at you the same way he laughs at the defense trying to punish him.

“Intimidate me?” Welker replied Thursday when asked the question.

The reporter brought up the Clark hit from 2008.

“I don’t know. I don’t know about intimidating me or anything like that,” Welker said. “There are guys that talk trash. There are guys that try to hit you and do all these different things but I feel like I have been around long enough to know a tough guy when I see one.”

Does it fuel Welker?

“Sometimes, it just depends. Sometimes it’s dirty or in bad taste,” Welker said.

Welker stands 5-feet-9 and weighs just 190 pounds. Welker was reminded Thursday the NFL is played by enormous individuals. For those that aren’t blessed with that kind of size, what does he use to overcome that?

“I think the two key things are being tough and being smart,” Welker said. “Being able to take those hits and do all of those things and at the same time being smart and understanding what the defense is doing and being able to attack it in a certain way where you can maybe make those windows just a little bit bigger where you are not taking those hits and things like that. I would attribute it to being tough and being smart and really understanding the game.” Read the rest of this entry »